Join us by reading one chapter per week of our book The Healing Circle which includes inspiring true stories and teaching from the ‘Skills for Healing’ Cancer Weekend Retreats. Each week we will post the next chapter of our book, links to related video, and a blog about the chapter. Learn about recent scientific advances in the body-mind-spirit connection, updates of the people featured in our book, and our reflections on each chapter. Read the whole book for free by accessing the previous blog posts. Please send us your comments and questions! Deep peace and healing,Rob Rutledge, MD and Timothy Walker, PhD
Read the introductory chapter: The Healing Circle – Before the Beginning Watch the Documentary: The Skills for Healing Retreat Documentary (45 minutes) This documentary follows the journey of five remarkable people through their experience of joining forty other cancer survivors and family members – all strangers during a cancer weekend support group. Watch their transformation, the power of new friendships, and the realization that the strength and wisdom they were seeking lay deep within each of them.
Blog by Dr. Rob Rutledge The sunlight is streaming through the window in my office at the Cancer Centre. I am sitting in silence with a dear friend, psychotherapist and teacher, Dr. Timothy Walker, who co-authored The Healing Circle with me. Tim and I are planning a day-long seminar for people affected by cancer. We close the door to a bustling clinic starting our planning session with five minutes of grounding meditation, and then setting an intention to create the best possible seminar.
Like I describe in the introduction to the Healing Circle (link above), something mysterious happens when Tim and I meld in meditation. Sometimes the feeling is peaceful and clear, and at other times, I am drawn deep into another dimension of our shared consciousness. But I am always energized and inspired to share the overwhelming love I feel in my heart with the world. I am also left feeling unsettled in some way. As an oncologist practicing conventional medicine, I waver between trying to be overly scientific (I can’t say anything my physician colleagues would disapprove of) and realizing there is a level of consciousness that we share which is both mysterious and powerful. I wonder ‘how can tapping into this level of spirit facilitate healing in the rest of our lives?’ This is a piece of life’s puzzle I hope to explore through this blog about our book, and other programs we’re producing at the Healing and Cancer Foundation.
With this blog, you’ll be able to read our book one chapter at a time over the next 42 weeks. In addition, we hope you enjoy learning more about the people featured in the book, their backgrounds and updates on their lives today, as well as how our perspective on healing may have changed since writing the book more than 5 years ago. We hope you’ll send your reflections and questions about the chapters or our reflections so we can keep the conversation going. Thank you for joining us. Blessings from Halifax.
Dr. Rob Rutledge is a Radiation Oncologist in Halifax, Nova Scotia, specializing in breast, prostate and pediatric cancers. He is also an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University.
In 1999, Rob co-created the ‘Skills for Healing’ Cancer Weekend Retreats. These weekend support groups teach a powerful and integrated approach to the cancer diagnosis and ways to heal at levels of body, mind and spirit. To date, more than 1,600 people have attended the retreats in over 20 cities across Canada and abroad.
Rob also leads the Healing and Cancer Foundation, a Registered Charity, that freely offers educational videos, documentaries, and webcasting seminars – and he is co-author of a book called The Healing Circle, which captures the teachings and inspirational stories from the weekend retreats.
In 2010, Rob received Cancer Care Nova Scotia’s Award for Excellence in Patient Care and, in 2006 Doctors Nova Scotia presented him with the Health Promotion Award in recognition of his contribution to physician health and health promotion in cancer patients.
Blog by Dr. Timothy Walker Thinking back to when Rob and I first met in 1998 there was a strong energy of excitement and an open sky of possibilities. I had been working for years to bring mindfulness into healthcare, often meeting a lot of blank stares from many people in the medical establishment. With Rob, here was a physician that truly bridged both worlds; he had an open mind and really understood the power of helping people to empower themselves from the inside out on their cancer journey. Right from the beginning we integrated meditation and the prayerful intentions of loving-kindness and healing into each of our planning meetings. Enjoying this peaceful and powerful time of simple presence and healing intentions set the tone for everything we were doing. A powerful moment for me came just before the first retreat in 1999. We were both feeling nervous about the success of our bold plan. Would it really help people in the way that they needed? Would they be open to it? Were we up to the task of presenting our program to them in a way that would inspire and empower them? With all of this coursing through our minds we stopped early on that Friday afternoon before the retreat began, to take the time to go over each participant’s diagnosis and review some of their story as presented on their registration form. Then we held the whole group in our hearts, contemplating their suffering, and sending them a prayer for healing. There were logistical details of the audio, power point presentations, security for the building, catering and many other last minute details to look after. But taking that time to contemplate each person’s unique struggle and send them our deepest healing intentions felt to me like a breakthrough in integrating the practical and the visionary. Since then Rob and I have continued sending our healing intentions even from the first moment that we book a retreat.
Timothy Walker Ph.D. is a mindfulness teacher and psychotherapist living in Halifax Nova Scotia with over 30 years experience integrating mindfulness into counselling, education and healthcare. He is co-author of the The Healing Circle: integrating science, wisdom and compassion in reclaiming wholeness on the cancer journey and co-founded with Dr Rob Rutledge the Healing and Cancer Foundation. He designed and has taught with Dr. Rutledge the Skills for Healing Weekend Retreats for people living with cancer and their family members 42 times since 1999 in 20 cities across North America touching the lives of more than 1600 people. He has taught at Dalhousie University, Acadia University, and Mount St. Vincent University as well as hundreds of workshops, seminars and retreats Internationally. In his private practice, The Healing Circle, Timothy sees individuals, couples and families and welcomes distant consultations.
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